Landmarks Art & Garden Center

We had our wedding ceremony & reception of 125 people here this past August. Barbara was a pleasure to work with (she manages the property). The venue was exactly what I was looking for: a beautiful, garden outdoor setting with a view. The property is tiered so you have gorgeous views of the bay from the several brick terraces. While only encompassing an acre of land, there are paths that weave people through trees and garden foliage so guests could get a little privacy while not getting lost. There’s a garden greenhouse in the bottom corner of the property that the caterers used to finish off and plate meals without being an eye sore to our celebration. We did have to bring most things in (tables, chairs, ovens, etc.); however, they have events here often enough that it was all quite smooth. We used a caterer and valet off their preferred vendor list, which made things more seamless since these teams had worked the venue many times before. Our event went from 2−9pm which negated the need for expensive lighting costs. Music has to be turned off at 9pm due to local noise ordinances, so this is definitely not a venue for you if you’re looking for a late night party event. We hired a DJ and received no noise complaints. We had our ceremony on the main brick patio terrace under a gorgeous old oak tree. Reception was held on the lawn and dessert and dancing continued on the same ceremony brick terrace. The Tiburon Landmarks Society is a local non-​profit, which felt good knowing my venue fee went towards a good cause. Also nice is that the cost is tax-​deductible! The odd thing about this venue is that it doesn’t book up like other outdoor venues in the area. I truly have no idea why, as this venue was my top pick from the beginning. The only negative to the venue is that it is very exposed to sun. We wish we had rented more umbrellas or more creative sun protection for our guests’ comfort. Nevertheless, everyone had an amazing time and the day was absolutely perfect!

My partner and I went to a wedding at Landmarks Art & Garden Center, and overall, it’s a nice place for an intimate wedding with a great setting.
First of all, this place is rather hard to find. There are a bunch of driveways and this is just one random driveway with a small sign in front. I took a shuttle bus here, but when the driver drove past, he couldn’t really find it. There’s not much parking here, which is not a great thing when you have a large event like a wedding or party here. I would be cognizant of that fact.
Around 80 to 100 people can fit comfortably here for a party. There’s a large grass area where all the tables were set up. There was enough room for catering services without it being all in your face.
I would say one negative thing for a party here is that because this is located in the middle of a residential area, parties have to be over at 9 o’clock. That’s kind of a drag when everyone is having fun at the party has to move somewhere else in Tiburon.
While I didn’t go here for the gardens or anything, overall this is a pretty place and a fine place for a wedding or party.

When we first walked into the garden, we knew this was the place we wanted to get married. It is just such a naturally beautiful place with tiered gardens, brick paths to wander through and benches to relax in, an adorable historic cottage, and a fantastic view of the bay. It’s just such a unique place to hold a wedding.
Barbara, the venue coordinator, was wonderful to work with. We loved that while she provided us with a list of vendors she has experience with, she didn’t require that we only work with them. Barbara was also incredibly helpful and answered emails quickly, and just is an all-​around pleasant person. It was a pleasure working with her.
Landmarks Art and Garden is a naturally beautiful and calm place. If you’re looking for an outdoor venue, we recommend it. We loved having the blooming garden all around us as we said our vows. It was all just so lovely!

This is a stunning venue and perfect place for an outdoor wedding reception or party. I cannot say enough good things about the Landmarks Tiburon Art & Garden Center and Barbara, the venue coordinator. I got married here at the end of May 2015 and everything was beyond my expectations.
When I first walked into the garden, I knew this was the place I wanted to get married. With a beautiful, tiered, blooming garden, and fun brick paths that allow you to wander through the garden and discover tucked away benches and other cool relics, and then breath-​taking views of the bay and Sausalito, and Mt. Tam as the backdrop, I knew that our wedding would be special — and it was! With such a gorgeous setting, I knew two things: that my guests were sure to enjoy themselves (beautiful setting plus food and booze, come on :), and that I wouldn’t have to do much, if anything, to make the space «wedding ready» — I could just show up and it would be beautiful.
The garden was all that and more!
Barbara was a dream to work with. She answered my endless stream of questions promptly and specifically, and she helped guide me with decisions. She was like a wedding coach, always there, always helpful, encouraging and positive. I could call, text or email and she always got right back to me. She was also great about working with my vendors to make sure their questions were answered.
They don’t do any marketing of the venue and purposely try to stay just under the radar so they don’t turn into a wedding factory. And it showed in the amount of attention Barbara devoted to me. I felt like I was the only and most important wedding Barbara had to do, and never got the sense that I was just «one more bride.»
If you are looking for an outdoor garden venue that can accommodate 150 persons or fewer, I highly recommend you consider the Landmarks Art & Garden Center.
(Also, to comment on the parking notes made by others, I worked with CPA Valet (also recommended by Barbara) and had a great experience. As for needing parking (valet or bus), sure it’s an extra expense and one more thing to coordinate, but every venue has trade-​offs, and for me, the setting was worth the trade-​off of the valet. Also, I know I saved a bunch of money on flowers and other decorations because the site is naturally gorgeous and doesn’t need a lot. So for me, the parking was money I had saved in not needing those extra frills.)

My review is overdue, we had our ceremony and wedding party at the Landmarks Garden at the end of August of this year. This place is certainly one of the best venues for an outdoor garden wedding in the Bay Area and I did visit many in my months of preparations. The view is breath-​taking and all our guests enjoyed it so much especially because we had a really warm day and a clear sky, we were so lucky :) The venue certainly made our wedding so memorable and unique. Barbara, the manager was also really accommodating, supportive and was quite transparent with everything we needed to know about the place.
I certainly recommend the garden but there are few things you need to know if you’re considering the place, I think one of my biggest bummers was that we needed to wrap up at 9ish, they close at 10pm because the area is residential, where I come from weddings usually last longer because the dancing party is so essential :) Another issue is the fact that garden does not have the needed equipment for the caterer, that can be a challenge but we worked with a catering company that often does weddings there so they managed and brought everything they needed with them, in addition to tables and chairs, but this was an extra cost. Also the parking is limited and if you have a big wedding and a lot of people driving you will need to figure a valet service, another additional cost –our valet actually did a great job and we saved the spots in the venue for family and vendors. And finally the last thing you need to know, is the lighting situation, if your wedding is going to continue until after sunset you certainly need to add lighting. the lights they had out were not enough and we brought just some cute string lights and it looked good but it was certainly too dark and people were starting to move into the cabin at that time, luckily it was a beautiful summer day so by the time it was dark it was towards the end of the wedding. Again I still feel lucky that we had our wedding here and I would do it again there but just be prepared for some extra costs to make things perfect.

We loved this venue for a May ceremony and reception — it was absolutely perfect for us. Lovely 70 degree weather, a beautiful, multi-​tiered garden, minutes away from downtown Tiburon, CA, overlooking the bay, and gorgeous mountains (the fog began rolling in at sunset). During the wedding, we ran across the street for sunset wedding photos next to the water. The house has been updated and is clean with white walls displaying photos of what it used to look like (when it was the only house in the Tiburon area!), new wood flooring, lots of light, and, at night, is dotted with little Christmas lights. The venue is right off of Tiburon Blvd. but its so tucked away that you wouldn’t even notice it. It has a large lawn for big weddings or small weddings with a $ 20 croquet game. We also had food stations, which we loved, and scattered them around the lawn so that guests could «discover» different foods and it helped the wedding seem more creative and informal.
And it’s super inexpensive and part of it can be a tax write-​off, but see #2 below.
There were a few negatives, however, which may cause some to shy away. The biggest was the closing time. Because Landmarks is in a neighborhood, audio has to be off by 9pm, things have to be cleaned up and folks leave shortly thereafter, and everything and everyone has to be out by 10pm when the gates are locked. For summer weddings, this means you are going to have an afternoon and evening wedding with little time for dancing into the night. We found ourselves wondering where the time had gone (as most do) and wishing that we had time to dance and enjoy a little more time. If you book the venue for more than 6 hours, you pay more. The upside is for those who are early sleepers or have guests who will need to sleep early.
Second, it’s like a beautifully gardened blank canvas which means you have to hire a caterer (see my recommendation for California Rose) and get rentals and add in any other touches that you want. My advice is rent the caterer first, use caterers and a wedding planner recommended by the venue (experience is worth its weight in gold), and go as simple as possible. We didn’t have any flowers — just beautiful tall pink hydrangea centerpieces made by our family friend off of Pinterest — and we didn’t miss it at all.
Third, parking and transportation is an added stress. The venue is only 5 minutes drive from Tiburon but there are only about 15 parking spots, including those for vendors. We only had 55 guests, so in hindsight, we should have just let folks carpool (and those who couldn’t carpool could park along the side road), but the manager, Barbara, encouraged us to get either transportation for the guests (we rented a van and asked our friend to drive it) or valet service. It seemed like most people brought their cars despite our best efforts at «public» transportation. (Guests did the same at my sister’s wedding, so maybe this is common…) Also, a note — I highly recommend having the ceremony and reception in the same place. It’s so much less hassle and you get to spend more time enjoying than transporting.
Fourth, the electrical system is not incredibly strong so you may need to rent a generator to make sure the caterer has full access to a fridge. The green house serves as the outdoor kitchen for food prep.
Lastly, this isn’t necessarily a negative (although it could lead there), but just double-​check and clarify with Barbara when discussing things. She can be very helpful and really considerate in giving her time to let you walk through the venue and discuss planning (she even provided us with cushions for the rocks and benches), but there were a few statements she made which were either incorrect (e.g. that one of the caterers was the cheapest when actually it was the most high-​end) or contradictory (e.g. all guests had to be out by 9pm vs. audio had to be off by 9pm and guests could leave thereafter). When in doubt, get it in writing and/​or double-​check with the vendors.
All in all, we would recommend this venue again. It was beautiful, unique, and now holds a special place in our hearts.

To respond to the owner comment below — note that the owner comment on this review and my reivew for Old St. Hilary’s is the same, so obviously they are not personalizing comments for Unilocal reviews (original review directly follows this comment):
1. We used Pure Luxury which was on your preferred vendors list — they were frustrating to deal with, but in the end everything worked out fine.
2. I understand that one person cannot be at all events on one day — my complaint is that I do not think I was told that the person I had been working with all year, Barbara, would not be there.
3. I had my own day-​of wedding coordinator, so I did not expect your staff to do anything that she would do.
Original review:
Again, i thought my wedding was awesome, but since i was the bride, i’m subtracting 1 star to account for the obvious bias.
Pros: You cannot beat the view from here, and you really get an incredible bang for your buck. I held my wedding of 70 guests here, and almost all of them commented to me and my husband about how much they enjoyed the setting.
Cons: limited parking, so you’ll need to arrange a shuttle for guests which can be a logistical nightmare to plan. Also, because it’s an old building/​space, we had some power issues at our wedding, in that we had about 2 – 3 very minor power outages, all during dancing. They were very short, but one of them rendered our photobooth useless for a while, which was a bummer. Also, initially Barbara had said she was going to have the Photobooth set up in one location, but when I arrived they were set up at another — I don’t know what happend there, but I think part of the problem is that Barbara, the person with whom I had been meeting with about the wedding, was not the person there on my wedding night. I think if she had been there, then perhaps that would not have happened — but really I can only speculate because I have no idea what happened during the vendor set up period, as I was busy getting married at the church up the hill :)
Despite the minor snafus, I would highly recommend any future bride look at this venue!

landmarks is a bay area gem that i think more people should know about.
we had our wedding reception here last september and completely fell in love with landmarks from the 1^st site visit. everything about it was exactly what we wanted — the lush garden landscape in an intimate space, the gorgeous smells from the rosemary bushes and flora, the marin weather, the water view, the cozy corners throughout the venue. our ceremony was in golden gate park and we shuttled all our guests to landmarks, so parking was not an issue.
all our guests were very impressed by the venue and so many people asked us how we found this venue.
barbara was amazing to work with — she worked relentlessly to help us find vendors they trust and to bring our vision to life. she was very responsive with all our questions throughout the process and helped set up a walk-​thru for our vendors.
i highly recommend this venue for any outdoor event, especially for a stunning garden wedding that you and your guests will remember for a long time.

Beautiful venue to watch my close friend get married. The view is breathtaking and the garden itself is beautiful. The lounge/​room area where the bridal/​groom party gets ready is a rustic, wooden room and I love the feel of it all!
Minus 1 star for minimal parking (we are talking ~10 spaces). Also there was no cover provided in the wedding area so it was blazing hot during the ceremony and we were all melting. Not a fault of the venue though, but if you are planning a wedding there in the summer, you may want to consider that for your guests’ comfort.

I was married here a couple of weeks ago and could not have been more pleased with the venue. Both the backdrop of the bay and the gardens themselves are beautiful. Many guests commented on the beauty of the space. It helped to create the intimate and relaxed vibe that we were looking for. Barbara is the coordinator there and she is very helpful and easy to work with. Truly a spectacular Bay Area spot for an outdoor event.

My cousin just had her wedding here, and it was gorgeous! The staff is suuuper helpful&efficient! My wine glass was never empty haha. The venue is GORGEOUS. You can’t beat the water backdrop. However, the stairs outside are pretty old and can get pretty treacherous [sober or otherwise], so be careful! The little house is really cute, too.

My husband and I were married here and I could not have been more thrilled with the entire experience, from planning to day of. Obviously the venue is gorgeous. I loved the garden setting and the meandering paths that invite guests to wander. The views of the bays and the city in the distance are simply stunning.
Barbara was so helpful throughout the entire process. She was laid back and totally no pressure when we originally saw the site. During planning, she was always available and when I mentioned I wanted to bring a croquet set, she offered the site’s own vintage croquet set they had stored in the basement. On the day of the wedding, it was 78 and SUNNY. Barbara magically pulled out some purple parasols (our wedding colors happened to be purple!) left from a previous wedding and asked if our guests wanted to use them. She was so awesome!
We got lucky with perfect weather and the guests didn’t stop commenting on how gorgeous the setting was throughout the entire wedding. It was beyond all my expectations, and at a fraction of the cost of other far less beautiful wedding venues I toured.

We had our wedding ceremony here and it was gorgeous! Nothing beats a perfect day in the Bay Area and we had it, not only due to the weather, but the beautiful gardens and the helpful and talented Barbara who is the event coordinator for the Landmark Society. If you want an outdoor wedding in the North Bay, this is absolutely perfect!

Landmarks is the perfect place to hold an outdoor wedding… it’s amazing. We had our wedding there in May, and from start to finish we couldn’t have been happier with it! The staff does a terrific job of keeping the grounds and gardens looking lovely, and their help with set up was just perfect and smooth. Our wedding pictures are divine, thanks in large part to the beautiful venue of Landmarks!